Written Answers Thursday 21 July 2005

Scottish Executive

Child Mortality

Christine Grahame (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many deaths of children under five have been recorded in each of the last five years, broken down by NHS board area.

George Lyon: The information requested is given in the following table.

  Deaths of Children Under Five Years of Age by NHS Board Area

  

 Scotland, 2000-04
 2000
 2001
 2002
 2003
 2004


 Scotland
 358
 332
 336
 324
 314


 Argyll and Clyde
 30
 30
 32
 29
 36


 Ayrshire and Arran
 36
 38
 24
 23
 19


 Borders
 3
 4
 9
 10
 7


 Dumfries and Galloway
 7
 11
 11
 8
 3


 Fife
 14
 17
 33
 17
 26


 Forth Valley
 14
 23
 14
 16
 17


 Grampian
 29
 35
 22
 34
 33


 Greater Glasgow
 87
 58
 76
 60
 72


 Highland
 14
 12
 10
 6
 7


 Lanarkshire
 51
 31
 30
 48
 30


 Lothian
 56
 40
 48
 43
 41


 Orkney
 -
 1
 -
 1
 1


 Shetland
 -
 -
 -
 5
 4


 Tayside
 17
 29
 26
 24
 17


 Western Isles
 -
 3
 1
 -
 1

Credit Unions

Marilyn Livingstone (Kirkcaldy) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it is taking to support and encourage existing credit unions.

Malcolm Chisholm: As part of our Partnership Agreement commitment to support the development of credit unions, the Scottish Credit Union Capacity Fund was launched in 2003. The fund is worth £1.1 million over a three year period and is aimed at helping credit unions build their capacity and work towards self sufficiency. To date, 24 successful applications have secured awards totalling £700,000.

  The Executive has also led the way in securing the European Commission decision on State Aids to allow credit unions to receive higher levels of public funding to carry out financial inclusion activity. Work is now starting on implementing the decision as a workable scheme and preparing guidance for credit unions and funders by late 2005.

Hepatitis C

Shona Robison (Dundee East) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many deaths from hepatitis C were notified by NHS boards to the Procurator Fiscal prior to 29 August 2003, as required under "Death and the Procurator Fiscal, Crown Office, November 1998".

Elish Angiolini QC: Information is not available for periods prior to April 2002.

  An examination of the information recorded on the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service’s Case Management Database indicates that in the period from 1 April 2002 to 29 August 2003 procurators fiscal received notifications of 11 deaths where the cause of death included specific mention of hepatitis C. There were six other cases where the cause of death included hepatitis but the type was not specified. It is not possible to determine from the information held on the Case Management Database how many of those notifications were submitted by health boards.

Local Government

Mrs Margaret Ewing (Moray) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what percentage of councillors in each local authority have been reported to the Standards Commission for Scotland since 2002.

Mr George Lyon: The Councillors’ Code of Conduct came into force on 1 May 2003 and it is from that date the Standards Commission for Scotland and the Chief Investigating Officer began to carry out their statutory functions of investigating complaints submitted and holding hearings on alleged breaches of the Councillors’ Code of Conduct. Between 1 May 2003 and 31 March 2005 (the latest date for which the information requested is available), the percentage of councillors in each local authority who have been reported to the Standards Commission for Scotland is as follows:

  

 Local Authority
 Number of Councillors Reported
 Number of Councillors in Local Authority
 Percentage of Councillors Reported


 Aberdeen City Council
 2
 43
 5%


 Aberdeenshire Council
 4
 68
 6%


 Angus Council
 3
 29
 10%


 Argyll and Bute Council
 3
 36
 8%


 City of Edinburgh Council
 21
 58
 36%


 City of Glasgow Council
 29
 79
 37%


 Clackmannanshire Council
 13
 18
 72%


 Comhairle nan Eilean Siar/ Western Isles Council
 1
 31
 3%


 Dumfries and Galloway Council
 10
 47
 21%


 Dundee City Council
 0
 29
 0%


 East Ayrshire Council
 0
 32
 0%


 East Dunbartonshire Council
 2
 24
 8%


 East Lothian Council
 4
 23
 17%


 East Renfrewshire Council
 2
 20
 10%


 Falkirk Council
 14
 32
 44%


 Fife Council
 4
 78
 5%


 Highland Council
 4
 80
 5%


 Inverclyde Council
 3
 20
 15%


 Midlothian Council
 5
 18
 28%


 Moray Council
 7
 26
 27%


 North Ayrshire Council
 4
 30
 13%


 North Lanarkshire Council
 4
 70
 6%


 Orkney Islands Council
 3
 21
 14%


 Perth and Kinross Council
 5
 41
 12%


 Renfrewshire Council
 14
 40
 35%


 Scottish Borders Council
 3
 34
 9%


 Shetland Islands Council
 3
 22
 14%


 South Ayrshire Council
 2
 30
 7%


 South Lanarkshire Council
 5
 67
 7%


 Stirling Council
 2
 22
 9%


 West Dunbartonshire Council
 5
 22
 23%


 West Lothian Council
 20
 32
 63%


 Total
 201
 1,222
 16%

Local Government

Mrs Margaret Ewing (Moray) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many cases of councillors reported to the Standards Commission for Scotland since 2002 have been upheld, broken down by local authority.

Mr George Lyon: The Councillors’ Code of Conduct came into force on 1 May 2003 and it is from that date the Standards Commission for Scotland and the Chief Investigating Officer began to carry out their statutory functions of investigating complaints submitted and holding hearings on alleged breaches of the Councillors’ Code of Conduct. Between 1 May 2003 and 31 March 2005 (the latest date for which the information requested is available), there have been 10 cases where a breach has been concluded. The breakdown by local authority is as follows:

  

 Local Authority
 Number of Cases Where Complaint Upheld


 Dumfries and Galloway Council
 1


 East Renfrewshire Council
 1


 Falkirk Council
 2


 Renfrewshire Council
 5


 West Dunbartonshire Council
 1


 Total
 10

School Leavers

Ms Sandra White (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what research it is carrying out to determine the reasons for the number of school leavers leaving school before the age of 16 increasing last year despite financial incentives to stay on.

Allan Wilson: The Scottish Executive is currently not carrying out research to determine the reasons of pupils for leaving school before the age of 16.